Unhappy Circuit
Unhappy Circuit is a new media artist in Korea. His work is based on a fusion of art,
science, technology and multidisciplinary perspective that encompasses linguistics,
anthropology, ecology, futurology, and cosmology.
The main theme that penetrates his work is 'exploration of unknown'. He wants to
expand our perception of the universe and humanity by exploring the possibilities of
unknown beings that we do not know yet, and through this, he wants to connect
finite and lonely lives and minds of humanity with the vast universe.
He has participated in various exhibitions hosted by art institutions such as Hyundai
Motor Group's ZER01NE, Asia Culture Center, Arts Council Korea, Taiwan C-LAB
and Ars Electronica .ART Gallery.
1. Astrolinguistics (2020~)
Interstellar message refers to a kind of structured data that aims to reach extraterrestrial intelligence through radio communication technology.
From 2020 to the present, Unhappy Circuit is working on a project to develop a new interstellar message. In particular, he intends to complete
an interstellar message to make extraterrestrial intelligence understand human language. In other words, by introducing human language and
the unique characteristics of humans based on that language to all intellectual beings in the universe, He wants to ultimately start a
conversation with them.
Compared to the vast universe, we humans are essentially finite and lonely beings. Therefore, we want to be able to connect instinctively with
the universe. Unhappy Circuit tries to connect humanity and the universe through the interstellar message. This is an effort to reach the farthest
universe in his own way, and to expand our mind to the universe.
＜Interstellar Message Written in 9 Languages of the Earth＞,2021
◼Two-dimensional digital data to convey information about human language and civilization to extraterrestrial intelligence
◼1-channel video, 2-channel sound, 14’56”
◼Exhibited at C-LAB (Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab)
◼Supported by C-LAB
◼Archive video: https://youtu.be/43SlQ2M4nTg
Language interacts with the way of thinking, emotion and culture of the beings who use it. This means that language is the most important thing for mutual understanding. This work is an interstellar
message containing structured information about human language for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. In particular, this work continues to expand interest in the languages of the
marginalized world to reflect the diversity and uniqueness of Earth's language in the Interstellar message while allowing extraterrestrial intelligence to understand human language and humanity
through a gradual hierarchy of information.
In addition, this work conveys the message of Earth’s climate change to the universe. This message, which symbolizes the present of mankind, forms a consensus between the two civilizations living
in this universe, while transforming our own view of ourselves into cosmic perspective. The interstellar message is actually an echo of the universe toward ourselves.
＜Interstellar Message Written in Hangeul v1＞, 2020, National Library of Korea ＜Interstellar Message Written in Hangeul v2＞, 2021, Ars Electronica .ART Gallery
＜Interstellar Message Written in 9 Languages of the Earth＞, 2022, Taiwan C-
LAB
＜Interstellar Message Written in 6 Languages of the Earth＞, 2021, Asia Culture Center
2. Artificial Intelligence (2018~2019)
Between 2018 and 2019, the Unhappy Circuit focused on artificial intelligence as a major theme and medium for his work. He
divides artificial intelligence into three big perspectives:
artificial intelligence as a new human being, artificial intelligence as a
technology that complements humans, and artificial intelligence as a mirror that reflects humans
.
First of all,
artificial intelligence as a new human being
literally means artificial intelligence as a new intellectual being that has
evolved into a human-like or transcending human beings. In other words, it means artificial intelligence as a true posthuman.
On the other hand,
artificial intelligence as a technology that complements humans
refers to the perspective of recognizing
artificial intelligence as a new technological tool. While the previous view is based on futuristic perspective, the latter is the
perspective of artificial intelligence in the present era. Finally,
artificial intelligence as a mirror that reflects humans
is a
humanistic or artistic perspective of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is learning about humanity through data. The
results generated by such artificial intelligence reveal nature of humanity.
After all, for the Unhappy Circuit, artificial intelligence is a technology that has the potential to become a new human being
someday, and a technology that has the greatest impact on our lives at the moment, and an artistic medium that reflects
nature of our humanity.
＜A Synthetic Song Beyond the Sea＞, 2019
◼Ambient music in which blue whale vocalization and human music are converged by artificial intelligence
◼2-channel projection, 2-channel sound, 4’29’’
◼Collected by Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art
◼Exhibited at Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, National Science Museum, Art Center Nabi
◼Supported by Korea Creative Content Agency and Art Center Nabi
◼Archive video: https://youtu.be/SmEvkJTvBaA
Whales, like humans, can feel and express emotions, live in a complex society, and have a language system for communication. In addition, Whales have evolved together by sharing an ancestor
with all mammals on the Earth, including humans. However, humans have long threatened the survival of whales, which still persists nowadays.
This work is an attempt to create music that whales and humans can listen to and interact with by converging blue whale vocalization and human music using artificial intelligence. Through this
attempt, the work depicts the future in which whales and humans understand each other and coexist together.
Through the life and death of whales, we can face the true nature of humanity. This is not irrelevant to the numerous tragedies in human history that have occurred without understanding each other
and the current situation of human civilization that still lives with the potential to destroy ourselves.
＜Learning About Humanity＞, 2019
◼Cooking performance with the recipe generated by artificial intelligence
◼2-channel projection, 4-channel sound, 20’
◼Exhibited at Asia Culture Center
◼Supported by Asia Culture Center
◼Archive video: https://youtu.be/95iyi_BfDN4
The geological term Anthropocene means that modern human civilization has agreat influence on the global ecosystem. In particular, chickens that are slaughtered about 65 billion a year, are
considered a symbol of the Anthropocene.
As the era of abundance due to the industrialization of livestock breeding and slaughter continues, we also forget that the meat we commonly encounter in our daily lives was once a living creature.
In particular, despite occurring in the process of rearing and slaughtering livestock, uncomfortable truths that we have been trying to ignore makes us ask ourselves questions about humanity.
Artificial intelligence learns human beings through massive amounts of data, and the result reflects humanity like a mirror. After all, the chicken dish generated by artificial intelligence is the mirror for
humanity that reveals the true nature of humanity behind the abundance of modern human civilization.
＜i Remember＞,2019
◼Images and sounds generated by artificial intelligence that learned human memory
◼1-channel projection, 2-channel sound, 20’
◼Exhibited at Platform-L Contemporary Art Center
◼Supported by Arts Council Korea
◼Archive video: https://youtu.be/ncnhnyX4WmY
For humans, memory means our own identity. Losing my memories is like losing myself. Memories are our lives. However, human memory is very incomplete. Therefore, humans have recorded and
preserved their memories on various media to compensate for the imperfections of biological memory. From prehistoric cave murals to computer memory, humans are rapidly evolving by expanding
the brain's area of storing memories to new media with the advancement of technology.
Now, the memory extends to artificial intelligence. Are there indescribable features that only the moments of experiences have in memories? Or are memories just data that can be copied and
transmitted all the time? If memories are just data, Is it possible for artificial intelligence to learn human memories? If it is possible for artificial intelligence to learn human memories, would artificial
intelligence that learned my memories be me? In this work, artificial intelligence learns the memory of a one person's mother and generates new images and sounds. Whose memory is the generated
audio visual sequence?
3. Computer music and generative art (2014~2017)
Unhappy Circuit debuted as a computer musician in 2014 and began its creative activities. In the early days, his music was a song that contained the
feelings of a depressed mechanical boy using glitch and noise sound. Since then, he has become more deeply fascinated by the nature of computer
music and expands the world of his work with new media art based on algorithmic music and generative audio visuals.
＜Music of Memories＞,2017
◼Audio-visualization of digitized human language and computer memory process
◼2-channel projection, 4-channel sound, 20’
◼Exhibited at Asia Culture Center
◼Supported by Asia Culture Center
◼Archive video: https://youtu.be/QK3PQacIgA0
The encoding system of Morse Code, which digitizes human language in a binary system, is similar to the digital system of computers. This work illuminates the boundary between humans and
computers based on the similarity.
Human language digitized by Morse Code is reminiscent of a complex computational algorithm and transforms the entire space into a huge computer memory core. And this computer memory
process is gradually resembling human memory.
After all, this work closely connects languages and code, memories and data, and humans and computers by breaking the boundaries through Morse Code.
＜Just Waiting for a Happy Ending＞, 2014
◼Music video: https://youtu.be/SqtouftaqII
＜Just Waiting for a Happy Ending＞is Unhappy Circuit's debut album. Through
this album he expressed the emotions of gloomy machine boy, named Unhappy
Circuit, through music based on electronic noise/glitch sound and handcrafted
stop motion animation.
◼Solo exhibition
2022,＜Conversational AI for Interstellar Diplomacy v1.0＞, Gallery P1, Korea
2019,＜i Remember＞, Platform-L Contemporary Art Center, Supported by Arts Council Korea, Korea
◼Group exhibition
In Korea
2022,＜ZER01NE Day 2022: Futureground＞, Hyundai Motor Group’s ZER01NE
2021,＜JMoCA 2021 New Collection: Closely Closely＞, Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art
2021,＜AI X ART＞, National Science Museum, Web exhibition
2021,＜4X 4WALLS: ACC Media Wall Shocase＞, Asia Culture Center
2021,＜ZER01NE Day 2021: Playground＞, Hyundai Motor Group’s ZER01NE
2021,＜Refrigerator Illusion＞, Asia Culture Center
2020,＜Sense of Knowledge＞, National Library of Korea
2020,＜ZER01NE Day 2020: P:Layers＞, Hyundai Motor Group’s ZER01NE
2019,＜ACT Showcase: Art & Science＞, Asia Culture Center
2019,＜Creative Code＞, Art Center Nabi
2019,＜ACT Festival: Food Hack＞, Asia Culture Center
2017,＜ACC Young Creator Incubation in Performing Arts＞, Asia Culture Center
International
2023,＜Futrue Fantastic Festival＞, BeFantastic.in and Inko Centre, India
2022,＜The Unrestricted Society＞, C-LAB, Taiwan
2021,＜ConcreteHouse.ART＞, Ars Electronica .ART Gallery, Virtual exhibition
2020,＜SIGGRAPH Asia 2020: Art Gallery＞, ACM SIGGRAPH, Web exhibition
◼Collection
2021, Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
◼Selection
2022, <Public Art: New Hero>, Public Art Magazine, Korea
◼Award
2018,＜6th Bio Art International Contest＞, Main prize, Seoul National University BICON, Korea
◼Academic
2022, Accepted for <Leonardo Graduate Abstracts>, Leonardo/ISAST
2020, Accepted for ＜SIGGRAPH Asia 2020: Art Gallery＞, ACM SIGGRAPH
◼Discography
2019,＜A Synthetic Song Beyond the Sea＞, Single
2017,＜Dreams＞, Single
2014,＜Just Waiting for a Happy Ending＞, Album
◼Article
2020,＜Unhappy Circuit searches for extraterrestrials＞, Henry Bruce-Jones, FACT Magazine
◼Lecture
2021, ＜Lecture Series on Korea-Indonesia Contemporary Art: Post Human & Art＞, ARCOLABS,
Indonesia
